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5.14.2013

Sun increasing activity

A sunspot on the sun's eastern limb is crackling
with powerful X-class solar flares.

Just-numbered
AR1748 announced itself during the early hours of
May 13th with an X1.7-class eruption
(0217 UT), quickly followed by an X2.8-class
flare (1609 UT) and an X3.2-class
flare (0117 UT on May 14).

These are the strongest
flares of the year so far, and they signal a significant
increase in solar activity. NOAA forecasters estimate
a 40% chance of more X-flares during the next 24
hours.

The explosions have also hurled coronal
mass ejections (CMEs) into space. Coronagraphs onboard
the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory are tracking
the clouds: movie.

The planet in the CME movie is Mercury. Although
the CMEs appear to hit Mercury, they do not. In
fact, no planets were in the line of fire. However,
the CMEs appear to be on course to hit NASA's Epoxi
and Spitzer spacecraft on May 15-16.

When the action began on May 13th,
the instigating sunspot (just numbered "AR1748")
was hidden behind the sun's eastern limb, but now
solar rotation is bringing the active region into
view.